No wonder people have trouble sorting through the facts. I wonder how many people have the stamina.
Category Archive: Things
No wonder people have trouble sorting through the facts. I wonder how many people have the stamina.
Good news for Monday
This is the the fourth in my installments on the Presidential Party Platforms. I’m reviewing and comparing the […]
This is the the third in my installments on the Presidential Party Platforms. I’m reviewing and comparing the Democrat and Republican Party Platforms.
I think it’s worth repeating that the Republicans decided to adopt the 2016 Party Platform. On the opening day of the 2020 convention, Republicans announced that they do not have a platform, but will follow Presidents Trump’s direction. Okay, now what? Lacking specifics, I’ll follow my original plan and compare the 2016 Republican Platform with the 2020 Democratic Platform.
The Democratic Party has about 8 pages on health care. The Republican Party has about three pages addressing healthcare.
Just so I can keep everything straight, I put the information into a simple table, like I would for corporate goals. Pretty easy to understand; I think: We will______________ by_____________ so that______________ happens. The last column is the page number for your reference.
Note: The day I began researching for this post, President Trump’s campaign announced a 2nd Term Agenda. The goals are many, but only the first part (We will) is addressed. How the goal will be accomplished (the “by”) is missing. Why he wants to accomplish the goal (the “so that”) is also not included. You can find the Agenda by clicking here.
So here’s the Democrats’ Plan for achieving universal, affordable, quality healthcare:
| We will | By | So that | Page |
| Protect, strengthen, and build upon our bedrock health care programs (Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid,Veterans Affairs (VA) system) | Give all Americans the choice to select a high-quality, affordable public option through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. | Private insurers have competition and incentive to provide affordable, quality coverage to every American. | 25 |
| Help close the persistent racial gap in insurance rates | Expand funding for Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment programs | Every American knows their options for securing quality, affordable coverage. | 26 |
| Provide health care to lowest-income Americans | Automatically enroll Medicaid eligible adults without premiums, with the option to opt out at any time | Everyone has the health care system the American people have always deserved | 26 |
| Remove barriers to states that seek to experiment with statewide universal health care approaches. | Empowering the states, as laboratories of democracy, to use Affordable Care Act innovation waivers | Everyone has the health care system the American people have always deserved | 26 |
| Increase support for dental care, mental health care, and substance use services like medication-assisted treatment, and substance use services | Doubling investments in community health centers and rural health clinics | Rural health clinics keep their doors open | 26 |
| Bring down the cost of prescription drugs | Empowering Medicare to at last be able to negotiate prescription drug prices for all public and private purchasers Preventing the price of brand-name and outlier generic drugs from rising faster than the inflation rate | Americans do not pay more for prescription drugs than people in other advanced economies | 26 |
| Ensure that effective treatments for chronic health conditions are available at little or no cost. | Capping out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors | Americans do not pay more for prescription drugs than people in other advanced economies | 27 |
| Take on Pharmaceutical Companies | Cracking down on anti-competitive efforts to manipulate the patent system or collude on prices. Eliminating tax breaks for prescription drug advertisements. | Americans do not pay more for prescription drugs than people in other advanced economies | 27 |
| Make it easier for working families to afford high-quality insurance | Ensuring no one pays more than 8.5% of their income in premiums and eliminating the cap on subsidies. | Reduce Healthcare costs | 27 |
| Increase price transparency in the health care system | Outlawing the practice of surprise medical billing using antitrust laws to fight against mega-mergers in the hospital, insurance, and pharmaceutical industries | Reduce Healthcare costs | 27 |
| Expand and protect Medicare | Fighting efforts to cut Medicare benefits Finding financially sustainable policies to expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing. | Prevent severe health consequences for Medicare patient | 27 |
| Increase the number of primary care practitioners, registered nurses, dentists, and dental therapists, especially in rural and low-income metropolitan areas | Supporting policies | It’s easier to access preventive and primary health care | 27 |
| Expand access to mental health and substance use treatment | Enforcing the federal mental health and substance use disorder parity law Ensuring that health insurers cover mental health and substance use treatment | American who needs it should be able to access mental health care or substance use disorder treatment, no matter where they live | 27 |
| Expanding funding for health clinics, especially in rural areas, and increasing access to these services through Medicaid. | Investing in training and hiring more mental health providers, substance use disorder counselors, and peer support counselors | American who needs it should be able to access mental health care or substance use disorder treatment, no matter where they live | 27 |
| Fight the opioid epidemic | Making medication-assisted treatment available to all who need it, and requiring publicly supported health clinics to offer medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction and approved treatments for other substance use disorders | American who needs it should be able to access mental health care or substance use disorder treatment, no matter where they live | 28 |
| Eliminate waiting lists for home and community-based care and the institutional bias within Medicaid | Making investments in building the capacity of the Medicaid system to provide home and community-based services. | Long-term care services and support are expanded | 28 |
| Help Americans pay for long-term care | Creating a tax credit for informal and family caregivers and increasing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit | Long-term care services and support are expanded | 28 |
| Improve nursing home staffing and quality standards, strengthen accreditation processes, Combat corporate abuses in nursing homes | Enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act and fulfilling the promise of the Olmstead v. L.C. decision | Institutional segregation of people with disabilities is eliminated | 28 |
| Eliminate gaps in insurance rates, access to quality care, and health outcomes | Launching a sustained, government-wide effort tackling the social, economic, and environmental inequities Ensuring federal data collection and analysis is adequately funded | We eliminate racial, gender, and geographic health inequities | 29 |
| Afford access to health care for people living and working across the United States | Expanding the ACA to Dreamers Lift the five-year waiting period for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program eligibility for low-income, lawfully present immigrants. | We eliminate racial, gender, and geographic health inequities | 29 |
| End the HIV/AIDS epidemic | Supporting investments under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program and the Minority HIV/AIDS Fund | We eliminate racial, gender, and geographic health inequities | 29 |
| Pursue environmental justice and climate justice, including for Indigenous peoples and communities | Investing in clean water and wastewater infrastructure, clean energy generation and distribution, and sustainable and regenerative agriculture | We protect Native American health | 29 |
| Honor the United States’ trust obligation to Native American communities | Making mandatory and working toward full funding for the Indian Health Service | We protect Native American health | 29 |
| Provide vital preventive and reproductive health care for millions of women | Restoring federal funding for Planned Parenthood Fighting to overturn federal and state laws that create barriers to women’s reproductive health and right Repealing the Hyde Amendment protecting and codifying Roe v. Wade. | We secure reproductive health, rights, and justice | 29 |
| Save mothers’ lives | Expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage to a full year after giving birth, investing in rural maternal health, promoting a diverse perinatal workforce, and implementing implicit bias training for health professionals. | We protect and promote maternal health | 30 |
| Address every dimension of the Black maternal health crisis | supporting policies and approaches that will at least halve our nation’s unacceptably high maternal mortality rate. | We protect and promote maternal health | 30 |
| Restore nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people in health insurance | Reversing regulations that allow doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies to discriminate against patients based on their sexual orientation or gender identity Requiring that federal health plans provide coverage for HIV/AIDS treatment and HIV prevention medications like PrEP and PEP, gender confirmation surgery, and hormone therapy | We protect LGBTQ+ health | 30 |
| Ensure healthcare workers have a family-sustained wage, good benefits, access to training and professional development, and the ability to join a union and collectively bargain. | Requiring all employers funded by taxpayer dollars to pay their workers at least $15/hour and protect workers’ rights to organize | We strengthen and support the health care workforce | 31 |
| Invest in Health Science and Research | Increasing funding for health and medical research and federal grants across agencies Increasing the federal investment in research and development for new medications | We are at the forefront of scientific research and discover for the benefit of our people, our economy, and our global competitiveness | 31 |
| Break down silos and accelerate research into cancer and cancer treatments | Creating an agency with the sole mission of finding new cures and treatments for cancer and other diseases. | We are at the forefront of scientific research and discover for the benefit of our people, our economy, and our global competitiveness | 31 |
| Protect the independence and intellectual freedom of scientists Shield our scientific research agencies from future political interference. | ??? | We restore the pace of scientific inquiry and America’s standing in the world. | 31 |
Whew! That was a lot of work. Next up….
Good news for Monday
This is the the third in my installments on the Presidential Party Platforms. I’m reviewing and comparing the Democrat and Republican Party Platforms.
I think it’s worth repeating that the Republicans decided to adopt the 2016 Party Platform. On the opening day of the 2020 convention, Republicans announced that they do not have a platform, but will follow Presidents Trump’s direction. Okay, now what? Lacking specifics, I’ll follow my original plan and compare the 2016 Republican Platform with the 2020 Democratic Platform.
The Democratic Party has about 12 pages addressing the economy. The Republican Party has seven pages under the heading Restoring the American Dream.
Just so I can keep everything straight, I put the information into a simple table, like I would for corporate goals. Pretty easy to understand; I think: We will______________ by_____________ so that______________ happens. The last column is the page number for your reference.
So here’s the Democrats’ Plan for the economy:
| We will | By | So that | Page |
| Improve job quality and security | Passing the PRO Act and restoring workers’ rights, including the right to launch secondary boycotts | We raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour | 14 |
| Improve job quality and security | Repealing so-called “right to work” laws | We protect those who have been left without wage and hours for decades—including domestic workers and farmworkers—have the same rights as other workers. | 14 |
| Improve job quality and security | Increasing funding and staffing at the Department of Labor to aggressively enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules | Employees who are being misclassified, including gig and platform workers, deserve wage and workplace protections including minimum wage and overtime pay | 14 |
| Support unions | Banning captive audience meetings, penalizing companies that bargain in bad faith, protecting all private-sector workers’ right to strike | Employers are held accountable if they interfere in workers’ efforts to organize | 14 |
| Aggressively enforce wage, hour, health, and safety rules across the economy | Increasing funding and staffing at the Department of labor | Taxpayer dollars stop flowing to employers who steal workers’ wages, violate labor laws, or engage in union-busting | 14 |
| Strengthen labor rights for public-sector employees | Passing the Public Sector Freedom to Negotiate Act | We have a guarantee for public-sector employees to bargain for better pay, benefits, and work conditions | 15 |
| Fight for at least 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for all workers and family units | Implementing a high-quality paid family leave system | New parents can recover from childbirth and bond with their newborns or adopted children and allow all workers to take extended time off to care for themselves or an ailing relative | 15 |
| Boost funds for grants to states to help low-income and middle-class families afford child care | Increasing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit; Provide access to affordable, high-quality child care on a sliding scale | Parents don’t have to choose between keeping their kids safe and earning a paycheck | 15 |
| Improve compensation and benefits for child care providers and enact universal high quality pre-K programs for three- and four-year-olds. | Increasing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit; Provide access to affordable, high-quality child care on a sliding scale | Parents don’t have to choose between keeping their kids safe and earning a paycheck | 15 |
| Invest in the engines of Job creation | Investing in resilient, sustainable, and inclusive infrastructure | USA has the world’s best infrastructure system. | 15 |
| Invest in the engines of Job creation | Investing in clean energy, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and advanced manufacturing | USA has the world’s best infrastructure system. | 16 |
| Repair, modernize, and expand our highways, roads, bridges, and airports | Installing 500,000 public charging stations; using safe modern, design approaches | Drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and others can safely share the road. | 16 |
| Launch our country’s second great railroad revolution | Investing in high-speed rail | We have public transportation that is affordable to all and accessible to people with disabilities | 16 |
| Upgrade our nation’s ports, lock and dam systems, and freight infrastructure | ?? | We create jobs | 16 |
| Increase demand for American-made ships | Ensuring U.S. cargo is carried on ships flying our flag | We create jobs | 16 |
| Ensure everyone has access to clean, reliable drinking water and safe wastewater systems | Replacing lead pipes, increasing investment in innovative water technologies | We create jobs | 16 |
| | |||
| Close the digital 25 divide that deprives more than 20 million Americans of high-speed internet access | Investing in broadband and 5G technology, including rural and municipal broadband, and restoring the FCC’s authority to take action against internet service providers who violate net neutrality principles. | We create jobs | 16 |
| Ensure labor protection | Ensuring Davis-Bacon wage standards, project labor agreements, and domestic sourcing requirements | We create good, union jobs that expand the middle class | 16 |
| End policies that incentivize offshoring; | Accelerate onshoring of critical supply chains, including in medical supplies and pharmaceuticals. | We support robust Buy America and Buy Clean standards for federally supported projects | 16 |
| Support domestic manufacturing and grow rural manufacturing jobs; | Expanding effective tax credits; invest in innovation hubs and government programs and | Small manufacturers have access to technical and business expertise so they can grow their revenues | 16 |
| Build a diverse pipeline of talent | Investing in career and technical education and high-quality job training programs including pre-apprenticeship opportunities and registered apprenticeship; invsting in adult literacy and other skills development programs. | All workers can access the good jobs that will be created | 17 |
| Support small businesses | Boosting funding for state small business grant and lending initiatives; increasing access to credit for small businesses in low-income and rural areas, including for unbanked or underbanked businesses; improving and expanding Small Business Administration (SBA) programs | Women- and minority-owned businesses have increased opportunities | 17 |
| Invest in the heartland and rural communities | Expanding U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ownership and operating loan programs | It’s easier for new and beginning farmers, ranchers, and foresters, including returning veterans, to start and grow their operations | 17 |
| Invest in the heartland and rural communities | Taking steps to limit foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and reforming agricultural subsidies to better support small- and mid-sized farms. | We protect family farms and promote food security | 17 |
| Expand domestic markets for family farmers and ranchers | Developing and growing regional food systems to deliver fresh, American-grown produce to schools, hospitals, Department of Defense installations, and other major public institutions | Small, mid-size, and traditional farmers can stay competitive. | 17 |
| Spark a revolution in agriculture and open up new revenue streams for farmers in energy and waste products, and grow bio-based manufacturing jobs. | Strengthening the Renewable Fuel Standard, supporting E15 blends, and supporting research, development, and deployment of advanced biofuels; expand popular, voluntary programs for sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices | U.S. agriculture sector is the first in the world to achieve net-zero emissions | 17 |
| Enforce labor and environmental protections for farmworkers, | Protecting workers from exposure to pesticides and extreme heat; strengthening enforcement of the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Acts and the Packers and Stockyards Act. | Small and mid-sized farmers are empowered | 18 |
| Put workers first | Negotiating strong and enforceable standards for labor, human rights, and the environment in the core text of our trade deals | We build a fair system of international trade for our workers | 18 |
| Take aggressive action against China or any other country that tries to undercut American manufacturing | Working with our allies to stand up to China and negotiate from the strongest possible position. | We build a fair system of international trade for our workers | 19 |
| Take steps to increases the supply of housing | Equalizing access to affordable credit and improving access to down payment assistance to help families of color, low-income families, and rural buyers purchase homes; creating a new tax credit of up to $15,000 to help first-time homebuyers, and making the tax credit refundable and advanceable | Homeownership is in reach for every American | 19 |
| Expand the number of affordable, accessible housing units on the market. | Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit; build more affordable, accessible housing and retrofit existing housing in rural areas | Homeownership is in reach for every American | 20; 22 |
| Increase investments in public housing | Providing Section 8 housing support for every eligible family, and will enact protections to keep landlords from discriminating against voucher recipients. | We end homelessness | 20 |
| End using public policy to close neighborhoods off to Black families and other people of color | Enforcing the Fair Housing Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, and the disparate impact standard | Homeownership is in reach for every American | 20 |
| Make sure the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes | Reversing the Trump Administration’s tax; cracking down on overseas tax havens and closing loopholes that are exploited by the wealthiest. | We level the economic playing field | 21 |
| Curb Wall Streets Abuses | Strengthening and enforce Dodd-Frank financial reform law; update Glass-Steagall; back criminal penalties for reckless executives | We protect American workers from the impacts of future financial crises | 21 |
| Expand access to credit | Creating a public credit reporting agency | We ensure equitable access to credit and banking products for all Americans | 21 |
| Support the 10-20-30 funding approach, to direct at least 10 percent of federal funding to communities where 20 percent or more of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years or longer | Directing more federal investment to the communities most in need | We create jobs, improve and expand housing; modernize and expand transportation, clean water, wastewater, energy, and broadband infrastructure, and promote shared prosperity. | 22 |
| Make sure no child goes to bed hungry. | Increasing funds for food assistance programs; removing barriers that keep the formerly incarcerated from accessing food assistance | We end poverty | 22 |
| Protect individuals’ privacy and data rights while continuing to support and enable innovation in the technology sector. | Updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act | We afford the same protections to digital content as physical content. | 23 |
| Tackle runaway corporate concentation | Reviewing mergers an acquisitions to assess whether any have increased market concentration, raised consumer prices, harmed workers, increased racial inequality, reduced competition, or constricted innovation | Encourage competition and inovation | 23 |
| Protect Social Security | Enacting policies to make Social Security more progressive; eliminating penalties that unfairly reduce public sector workers’ earned Social Security benefits; supporting reforms which better accounts for the challenges facing unpaid caregivers | All workers have the ability to save at work for emergencies and for retirement. | 23 |
| Protect Social Security | Rejecting efforts to cut, privatize, or weaken Social Security | All workers have the ability to save at work for emergencies and for retirement. | 24 |
| Make it easier to save for retirement beyond core Social Security programs | Supporting approaches to retirement saving that enable workers and retirees to prepare for and prosper in retirement | Working people can build their nest eggs faster | 24 |
| Make it easier to save for retirement beyond core Social Security programs | Reversing the Trump Administration’s regulations allowing financial advisors to prioritize their self-interest 24 over their clients’ financial wellbeing | Working people can build their nest eggs faster | 24 |
Whew! That was a lot of work. Next up….
Good news for Monday
For the next few weeks, I’m reviewing and comparing the Democrat and Republican Party Plaforms. I’m doing this […]
Wait! We can’t party like this.
No! Not this kind of platforms.
The Presidential Democratic and Republican Party Platforms. These go beyond what the Presidential Candidates say in their stump speeches. The platforms go beyond any one candidate. These are the statements re-written every four years that describes in detail the official principles, policy stances, and priorities of the party.
The Democratic Platform is 80 pages long. The Republican Platform is 59 pages.
The Republican Party decided to adopt the 2016 platform exactly as it, even though it mentions Obama 20 times and the prior administration 22 times. I find this sorta strange, don’t you? I mean, there’s that search and replace tool most people know how to use.
The Democratic Party Platform is still in draft form. Still, more than likely, it’s pretty solid.
I’m going to read them both, even though I’ll be re-reading the Republican Platform from four years ago. Cuz, you know what? I’m going to vote in November like I do every year. And you know what else? There is more to this election than just Joe and Don duking it out.
I’ll report back next week. Interested? I hope so.
Just for a little sneak-peek, here’s a look at the tables of content: